Get them hair driers out!

The Wagner works fine.

I soldered two, 1/4" thick, dirk blades and the one where I used the Wagner took 8 min to finish. The Milwaukee took 6 min. I did use a nozzle on the Wagner for the first 3-4 min, which wouldn't allow me to get as close to the guard/tang as when I took it off.

So.....I think that the time would be quite close, if both were used without the nozzle. The Milwaukee doesn't really sound like it puts out much more volume, maybe slightly.

However, I'd assume that a gun that costs 3-4 times as much as the other ought to last longer. But.....you can buy 3-4 as they wear out for the same price....

I'll be soldering some more this next week and will report more on this highly scientific experiment.

Nice solder joints, if I do say so myself! (He's so humble!) Really, though, they do seem to be a bit smoother than when a torch is used. There is definately less smoke, less etching, less burning, more control of heat application---in my opinion.

After soldering two New York Specails, I do believe that the Milwaukee is a bit faster, at least the tang seemed to heat up quicker, intitially. However, the overall time spent soldering the two ferrules was very close.

It's a toss up. If you have the money get the more expensive one, whatever the brand. I'm going to keep the less expensive one and I don't think I'll be disappointed.

Used my wagoner today and 20 minutes later I had the joint all cleaned up and ready for polishing. The time difference between the torch and heat gun has not noticible to me. I use a cool flame I guess. Clean up was where I was really impressed!

No more torches for me!!

Interesting....... I was jsut gazing at my torch today and wondering why I have it. But then there is always this, or that, part that needs to be heated, or bent, or melted, etc. Don't guess a gun would work with hard solder!!

I'm glad you're happy with it. I'm sure each maker will have a different idea of why a heat gun is better, or worse than a torch, or an iron, or whatever. Never hurts to try a new idea.

Thanks for the report!

Soldered three guards last night, late, and not a single one of them cooperated! Finally got the joints to look OK, but for some reason they just wouldn't flow smoothly and each one took a lot of fiddling to ge them to look decent.

Not going back to the torch, yet! I'll try two more today and see if it was just the phase of the moon, or something. I know, I'll blame it on the humidity, we're at about 20% lately, I'd guess. Yeah, that must be it.....must press on.

Interesting experiment. I just became aquainted with those fiery old heat guns, and they really do throw some heat. ANYTHING to help a poor boy solder! I will definitely be trying it out. The potential for cutting down on clean-up time is obvious.

Corey Smith
coreysmith@smithandboltonknives.com

My two guards yesterday went much better than those just reported. Don't know what made the difference. Maybe it's these late, pre-Guild Show, nights that I'm working. Maybe it's just, like with anything new, one has to learn al lthe little in's and out's of the process. Persistancy pays off, generally.

I did have a hard time keeping the 1/4" "Chute up to temperature, however. Maybe the larger capacity heat gun would do a better job at that. Something to consider, if you want to go another $40-50.00.

MSC had a Milwaukee in their last catalogue at about $64 or $69.00, as I recall. Much more output than the one I got from Wal-Mart.